cannabisnews.com: County's Drug Rehab Agency To Issue MMJ ID Cards





County's Drug Rehab Agency To Issue MMJ ID Cards
Posted by CN Staff on January 21, 2004 at 09:05:12 PT
By Tim Hearden, Record Searchlight
Source: Redding Record Searchlight 
The Shasta County agency charged with helping people break free from drugs could soon begin issuing ID cards for medical marijuana patients.The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave the Division of Alcohol and Drug Programs the task of implementing a state law aimed at reducing prosecutions of those who possess and use pot medicinally. The irony wasn't lost on David Reiten, the program administrator.
"I think it could work closely together because from what we're hearing, a lot of people are getting prescriptions to use marijuana who really don't have a problem," he said. "So at least by coming here to get that card, they'll be exposed to information regarding marijuana . . . and they'll also be exposed to a place where, if they decide they need help, they can get it."Reiten's division was picked to administer the ID cards because it "already has relationships with the medical community and law enforcement," said Julie Hope, a senior administrative analyst.Former Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill last year to create the ID cards, which will be issued by the state Department of Health Services.Cultivation, possession and use of marijuana are still crimes under federal law, but a U.S. appeals court panel ruled recently that the federal law does not apply to those who are allowed to smoke pot with a doctor's recommendation.The state health department will need four staff members and about $325,000 to start the program, spokesman Robert Miller has said. The program would then support itself through users' fees.Once the state begins the program, the county will verify applications from Shasta County residents by requiring a physician's statement that the patient has been diagnosed with a serious medical condition and that medicinal use of marijuana is appropriate, Reiten said.The county will also check to see that the attending physician has a license in good standing, and will issue temporary cards for residents to use until their IDs arrive from the state, he said.Complete Title: County's Drug Rehab Agency To Issue Marijuana ID Cards Source: Redding Record Searchlight (CA)Author: Tim Hearden, Record SearchlightPublished: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 Copyright: 2004 Record Searchlight - The E.W. Scripps Co.Contact: letters redding.comWebsite: http://www.redding.com/ Cannabis & Drug Withdrawal Treatmenthttp://www.gwpharm.com/research_withdrawel.aspCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on January 21, 2004 at 10:57:05 PT
Miracle Plant for alcoholism 
Miracle Plant is the biggest thing that can happen for the problems of alcoholism. Ireland has increased levels of alcohol consumption in the last few years and it has always been a national problem. Russia is crying over what alcohol is doing to their country and the pain it is causing in families. The country I would love to hear about is Iceland. All that darkness up there in the north and all that alcohol consumption. When I was young, you could go down roads and on some roads all the houses on some roads would have lightning rods and some would have a few. My understanding of fear has evolved in the last few years and I never thought about it then. I always thought some roads got hit by the companies best salesman and the others didn't.You never hear about Iceland's cannabis situation. I figure it has got to highly prohibitionist. But once people find cannabis, even if it comes from a doctor prescribing GW extracts or extracts from India or South Africa, cannabis use will go up like lightning rods on a road hit by the companies best salesman.If Iceland just did not know about cannabis, I think a common line of the 1800's could have really been, "This stuff sells itself."Cannabis should be legal if only to reduce the harms of alcohol. Someone using cannabis is not inflicting harm on anyone, unless you listen to the Inverters of Truth for the Cause of Prohibition in Order to Erode Democracy and Plunder Nations of the World for US Hedgemony and World Domination by Exploiting Human Weaknesses to Pleasure and Addiction while Extracting Huge Profits and Global Militarization- IOFTHCOFPIOTEDAPNOTWFUHAWDBEHWTOPAAWEHPAGM for short.
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